Improving the Livelihoods of the Resource-Poor Smallholder Farmers and Producers in Developing Countries: An Urgent Appeal for Action by GCARD

4 March, 2010

Submitted by:

Group of Social Scientists and ARD Stakeholders[1]

Improving the Livelihoods of the Resource-poor Smallholder Farmers and Producers in Developing Countries: An Urgent Appeal for Action by GCARD

Summary

This document has been contributed by a group of social scientists and ARD stakeholders, committed to facilitate the GCARD consultation so that it is inclusive of the opinion of all ARD Stakeholders in contributing to increasing net incomes, purchasing power, livelihoods and sustainability of the poor smallholder farmers and producers and their communities in the developing countries.

Of the 3 billion people that live in rural areas (nearly half of the humanity), about 2.5 billion are involved in agriculture and 1.5 billion (half of the rural area population) are resource-poor small holders. These resource-poor smallholder farmers and producersconcentrated in the rural areas and mountains make up the majority (85%) of farmers in the developing world. They are among the poorest group of farmers and thus become important in the context of eliminating poverty and hunger from the developing world.

The Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) 2010, to be held in Montpellier, France from 28-31 March 2010, should use this paper as the basis to develop an action plan and strategy for improving agricultural research globally in order to make maximum impact on development, especially for the poor small producers. This paper provides an opportunity to all the stakeholders of AR4D to discuss and decide the world agenda for AR4D. Considering the importance of poor smallholder farmers/producers in the developing world, there is a need to utilize this opportunity to change the world agenda for AR4D so that livelihoods and wellbeing of the resource-poor smallholder farmers/producers in the developing countries could be improved. This document, which has suggestions on how the Action Plan could be developed and approved at GCARD also briefly discusses how GFAR and CGIAR could help improve the livelihoods of the smallholder farmers in the developing world.

The document discusses the importance, situation of the smallholder farmers in the developing world, and emphasizes the urgent need for action to meet the need based funding, AR4D, extension, etc., to ensure they are enabled to harvest crops of all seasons. It discusses the challenges that have been identified in different regions of the developing world through the GCARD consultation process, which include: (i) Food, nutrition and health security, (ii) Increasing the net incomes and purchasing power and improving livelihoods, (iii) Protecting the environment, (iv) Achieving structural reforms of the agricultural research (AR), education and extension systems, (v) Meeting the special challenges, and (vi) Making ARSs inclusive and follow a bottom up approach. In addition, it takes into consideration the exchanges of the E conference and the F2F, both an important part of the GCARD consultation process.

Among the suggestions for the Action Plan, the document lays emphasis that the AR4D should focus on the smallholder farmers’ development needs. Actions for different priority areas of research identified during the GCARD process in different regions are suggested. These include suggestions for: (1) Action for Institutional Issues: Action research, education, extension and linkages and collaboration; (2) Action Research for Development Issues: Improved technology for sustainable production (livestock research including rangelands, horticulture, seed systems, water resources and irrigation management, forestry, fisheries mountain agriculture); (3) Effecting Necessary Policy Shifts: Agricultural development policies, and marketing of agricultural produce/ products; (4) Environment Protection Issues: Reduce agriculture’s large environmental footprint and overcome the challenge of climate change, and protecting biodiversity degradation; (5) Socioeconomic Issues: Gender/women-related issues, and livelihoods and poverty analysis.

The document also briefly discusses importance of development pathways and how the developing countries could use them for the priority areas of AR4D. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of an integratedapproach to fulfill the requirements for agricultural development.

It should be emphasized that the five regions in the developing world have good potential for AR4D in the immediate future. Considering the present state of affairs, the regions could either become self-sufficient and meet their nutrition, health and food needs, orbecome a potential hot spot for poverty because of:(i) shortage of irrigated land, (ii)shortage of water,(iii) adverse effects of agro-chemicals used on their land and thus the proportionate increased need of water each year and contaminating subsoil water, (iv) increasing population,(v) shortage of safe nutritious and quality food, (vi) climate change and desertification,and (vii) isolation of the world community by the net producers (Australia, Canada, and the USA).

Therefore, the issues that are of immediate and vital importance include: (i) Strengthening of the existing potential for knowledge creation, (ii) Strengthening knowledge transfer mechanisms, (iii) Developing collaboration, partnerships and linkages among different stakeholders of AR4D at the national, sub-region, regional and the global levels, and (iv) Focus on the development of poor smallholder farmers and producers in rural and mountainous areas of the developing countries.

Considering the above and the potential that all five regions of the developing countries have, it is important that the governments make the required investments in and provide the required support to agriculture and AR4D to meet the needs of the poor smallholder farmers and producers and their communities, which in turn would meet the MDGs. Likewise, the international research and development organizations (CGIAR, FAO, etc.), the regional and international development organizations (IFAD, etc.) and banks (World Bank, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, etc.) must come forward to help the regions to ensure the needed funds for agriculture and AR4D, with the specific undertaking that these be used to meet the needs of the poor smallholder farmers and producers. The smallholder farmers/producers have been ignored for a long time, and let us at this stage commit ourselves to help them to overcome their difficulties and improve their livelihoods.

Improving the Livelihoods of the Resource-poor Smallholder Farmers and Producers in Developing Countries: An Urgent Appeal for Action by GCARD

  1. TheContext

Agriculture is a source of livelihood for a vast majority of people in the developing world which accommodates a total of 5.5 billion people of which 3 billion live in rural areas (nearly half of the humanity). Of these, nearly 2.5 billion rural people are involved in agriculture and 1.5 billion (more than half of the rural area population) belong to small holder households. These resource-poor small holder farmers and producers (herein after referred as small holder farmers) make a vast majority (85%) of farmers in the developing world. These smallholder farmers are distributed in all the three worlds of agriculture – i) agriculture-based, ii) transforming and iii) urbanized (World Bank, 2008) but are mostly concentrated in the agriculture-based (typified by Africa) and transforming countries (typified by China, India, Indonesia, Morocco, and Romania). It needs to be emphasized that the smallholder farming, also known as ‘family farming’ - a small-scale farm operated by a household with limited hired labour – remains the most common form of agriculture, even in industrial countries.

Many countries of the developing world, based on theories emanating from organizations such as the World Bank that small holder farming is inefficient, backward and resistant to change have tried to promote large-scale farming, but this experiment has clearly shown that this was not sustainable and sometimes even disastrous. In contrast, Asian countries that decided to promote small family farming were able to benefit. Experience inChina also showed the failure of collective farms but smallholder farming was found sustainable. Similar was the experience in India and Indonesia who recovered from the verge of their hunger crisis. These countries used agriculture as an engine of growth and the basis for industrialization.

Post-green revolution, the agriculture in the developing world is now on the cross roads and facing new challenges including that of environmental damage that have arisen because of intensive, high-input, mono cropped agriculture. The sustainability of such an agricultural system, especially for the resource poor small holder is now being questioned globally.

The world agenda for agricultural research for development (AR4D) is currently being considered through the GFAR organized Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD). GCARD involves participation of representatives of all the stakeholders of AR4D in the developing countries. This provides a good opportunity to reconsider the approaches that should be adopted to deal with today’s agriculture in the developing world. Since a vast majority of farmers in the developing world are and will continue to be resource poor small holders, there is an urgent need to reconsider and refocus the AR4D agenda to improve the livelihoods of small holder farmers and their communities, by focusing on quality, safety and net productivity in a sustainable manner to meet their and their communities needs and for the markets especially in the local vicinity. This is one assured way of increasing net income and purchasing power, thus eliminating poverty and hunger in the rural areas in the developing world where most of the small holder farmers live.

The paper highlights the ongoing GCARD process, the cause of the small holder farmers’ poverty in the developing world, and suggests actions to improve the productivity of their farms in a sustainable manner without harming the environment and to improve their livelihoods and their present and future generations.

  1. The GCARD2010 Process

The Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) 2010, which will be held in Montpellier, France from 28-31 March 2010, will provide an action plan and strategy for improving agricultural research globally in order to make maximum impact on development, especially for the poor small producers. It was decided that this plan and strategy will be developed on the basis of a global framework of agricultural research needs and priorities, which will be established through consultations which are inclusive, with representatives from a wide range of agricultural research stakeholders as equal partners around the world. It was also envisaged that the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) will ensure that the plan and strategy are addressed at global and regional levels to governments, national policy makers, senior managers of agricultural research systems and Institutions, farmer organizations and cooperatives, Non-Government Organizations, Civil Society Organizations, Universities, Private Sector Enterprises farming and investors, donors and philanthropic organizations. The Conference is expected to usher in change that will reshape agricultural research to AR4D and innovation and improve resources for AR4D. GCARD is being organized by the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) in collaboration with the Consortium and Independent Science and Partnership Council (now being formed) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The Conference will replace both theGFAR Triennial Conferences and the Annual General Meetings of the CGIAR.

2.1 Objectives of GCARD

The objectives of GCARD are to ensure that:

  • AR4D outputs are accessible and relevant to the poor in developing countries;
  • Research focuses on the right questions and is driven by the AR4D needs of the resource-poor small producers;
  • Knowledge generation through AR4D is embedded in development thinking and practice;
  • Funding systems are aligned between research and development;
  • Effective innovation pathways are developed between diverse stakeholders;
  • International agricultural research systems are effectively integrated with regional and national partners (NARS, public, private and civil society) and respond to national and sub-regional demands to help ensure development impact.

The GCARD is expected to add value to other processes where AR4D needs and actions have been identified and implemented. This is to be achieved by the following:

  • GCARD attempts to identify researchable issues in agriculture that will have impact on development especially towards eliminating hunger and extreme poverty. The poor and smallholder farmers are central to the efforts being made towards applying science and technology for AR4D.
  • The GCARD process is aimed to be inclusive of all stakeholders of AR4D innovation and as equal partners, following a bottom up approach.
  • It aims for collaborative action among research systems globally, with all stakeholders as equal partners towards AR4D.

2.2 Organization of GCARD process

The GCARD is being organized by GFAR by reaching out to all stakeholders in AR4D, working through its constituent agencies and networks, such as: the six Regional Research Fora, which include, the Association for Agricultural Research in Near East and North Africa (AARINENA), the Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutes (APAARI), the Central Asia and the Caucuses Association for Agricultural Research Institutions (CACAARI), the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the European Federation for Agricultural Research for Development (EFARD) and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Latin America and the Caribbean (FORAGRO), which represent National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) and Institutes (NARI); the Alliance of CGIAR Centres; FAO; IFAD; representatives of farmers organizations; civil society; the private sector; and donor agencies. For this, the GFAR Steering Committee has appointed a GCARD Task Force, chaired by World Food Prize Laureate Dr Monty Jones, to oversee the organization of the Conference and the consultations preceding it. The Task Force reports to stakeholders via the GFAR Steering Committee.

The elements involved in the GCARD consultation process have included:

  • Regional reviews, which have now produced a summary of regional research and development needs within the global context of agricultural research.
  • Electronic (e-) consultations at the regional levels by framing questions from the Regional Reviews at the regional levels which have also been concluded.
  • Face-to-Face dialogues through workshops at the regional levels which have also been completed. These dialogues have provided diverse perspectives on the priorities for AR4D, working back from the desired development impacts to ensure that research & development are innovative and are focused on meeting development goals of the poor small producers and their communities.

2.3 The GCARD Conference

The Conference is being organized from 28 to 31 March 2010 in Montpellier, France to align diverse stakeholders in agricultural research around a common agenda and develop the linkages required for its delivery. During the 4 days of deliberations the conference will examine: (i) priority development challenges and the potential role of research in delivering desired development impacts, (ii) investment needs for AR4D systems, innovation and wide knowledge sharing of the successful integrated farming systems and will feature high level consultations and focus on policy changes, (iii) the ways to enhance South-South collaboration with specific examples from the Successful farmers in each of the soil and agro-climatic conditions, (iv) to attract the recruitment of young people (v) the possible solutions and ways forward to address the challenges identified and the better ways in which AR4D actors can work together to achieve development goals.

The follow-up actions fromthe Conference will lay the groundwork for a reshaped global AR4D system with all stakeholders as equal partners, its action plan and strategy, as well as initiate new ways of working through global collaborative action. The policies, principles and practices to be included in the action plan will be further developed throughout 2010 into iterative cycles of learning, feedback, monitoring and repositioning with the full involvement of all stakeholders, following a bottom up approach (especially the successful farmers), culminating in a biennial GCARD conference. During these conferences all actions recommended by GCARD will be assessed.

  1. TheResource-poor Small-holder Farmers and Producers

3.1Importance of smallholder farmers in agriculture in developing countries

Agriculture is a source of livelihoods for estimated 85% of rural poor and provides for 1.5 billion smallholders and landless labourers. The vast majority of the farmers in the developing world are smallholders and an estimated 85% of them are farming less than 2 hectares (ha). Most developing countries in the world have a large population of small-holder farmers. In countries, as diverse as Bangladesh,China, Egypt, andMalawi, 95% farms are smaller than 2 ha, and many other great majority of small holder farms are less than 2 ha (World Bank, 2007). Moreover, 75% of poor people live in rural areas of which 2.1 billion live on less than $ 2 a day and 880 million on less than $1 a day, and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Thus, promoting integrated sustainable agriculture farming system for them to meet their and their communities’ nutrition and food needs is imperative for meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving poverty and hunger by 2015.

3.2Current situation of smallholder farmers/producers in the developing world

The revolution that dramatically improved crop production since the 1960s in the developing countries especially in Asia has now waned, experiencing stagnation or slowdown in agricultural production and productivity during the past two decades or so. Food insecurity and poverty, particularly rural poverty, accounting for two-third of the world’s hungry and poor, exacerbated by the soaring food and fuel prices, global economic downturn, volatile markets and climate change–induced vulnerability, have resurfaced as the foremost development concerns. Fast declining and degrading land, water and biodiversity resources have further aggravated the problem. These changes and the manifold increase of input costs have had a severe impact on the purchasing power and net incomes of the smallholder farmers,thus adversely affecting their livelihoods and made them hungrier and poorer over the years.